The Wilder Wildcats

General Motors Eastern Aircraft FM-2 proves to be a much improved Wildcat

Originally published in The Dispatch magazine, Volume 22, Number 4, Winter, 1997
edition. If you are interested in subscribing to The Dispatch please write
to The Commemorative Air Force, ATTN: Dispatch Editor, PO Box 62000, Midland, TX
79711-2000 or call (432) 563-1000. Reproduced with permission.

Less than 2 ½ years after its founding in December 1929,
Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation began to deliver carrier-based fighters to the
U.S. Navy. The FF, F2F and F3F fighters were single-seat biplanes, with performance
comparable to the British Gloster Gladiator and other contemporary biplane designs.

The biplane's short wing span made it a natural for use aboard aircraft carriers,
allowing increased numbers of planes to be stowed in the hangar deck and easy movement
between decks on the carrier's elevators. In the spring of 1936, Grumman had an improved
biplane, the XF4F-1 on the drawing board, and the Navy ordered a prototype. However, the
greater performance of monoplane fighters was becoming obvious, and Grumman changed the
design to a monoplane, and the Navy ordered the XF4F-2 in July 1936.

The Wildcat Enters Service

Grumman's new fighter suffered a lengthy development period before the first production
version, the F4F-3 began to enter squadron service with the U.S. Navy in November of 1940.
Powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-1830 engine of 1,200 horsepower, early F4F-3s had a
gross weight of about 7,050 pounds, while the addition of pilot armor and self-sealing
fuel tanks added 400 pounds to later models. On Oct. 1, 1941 the Grumman fighter was
officially named the "Wildcat", and fixed-wing Wildcats fought the early carrier
battles, including the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942.

One of the CAF's two Wildcats is painted as the F4F-3 flown by the U.S. Navy's first
ace of World War II, Lt. Edward "Butch" O'Hare, who shot down five Japanese
bombers attacking his ship, the USS Lexington, Feb. 20th, 1942.

In April, the carrier air groups in the Pacific began to receive new F4F-4s with
folding wings. The fixed-wing F4F-3s were turned over to the Marines for use from land
bases. Despite the increase in the number of fighters on each carrier, the new
folding-wing Wildcats were found to be 500-700 pounds heavier than the fixed-wing
Wildcats, significantly reducing the F4F-4's performance, especially its rate of climb.

The F4F-4 Controversy

The first large-scale combat for the F4F-4s was the Battle of Midway, on June 4-5,
1942. Powered by the same basic engine as the lighter F4F-3s, the heavier F4F-4's
decreased performance caused some bitter reactions. Lt. Cdr. Jimmy Thach, commander of the
Yorktown's Fighter Squadron Three (VF-3) during the battle, stated that the F4F-4
was "pitifully inferior in climb, maneuverability, and speed" when pitted
against the Japanese A6M Zero. He went further, saying: "It is indeed surprising that
any of our pilots returned alive."

Adm. Nimitz, Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet, noted the F4F-4 was "markedly
inferior to the Japanese Zero" but in a report to his boss, Adm. King, added the
following:

"These characteristics must be improved, but not at the cost of reducing the
present overall superiority that in the Battle of Midway enabled our carrier fighter
squadrons to shoot down about 3 Zero fighters for each of our own lost."

The uproar over the latest Wildcat's poor performance led to increased demands for a
replacement, and by August 1943, Grumman's F6F Hellcat had taken the Wildcat's place on
board the U.S. Navy's larger fleet and light carriers (CVs and CVLs).

Enter the Escort Carriers

However, the Wildcat still had a role to play, flying from the shorter decks of the
smaller escort carriers (CVEs) which began to be produced in large numbers in 1943. First
intended as aircraft transports and a means of replenishing the larger carriers' aircraft,
escort carriers quickly proved their worth in anti-submarine, convoy escort and
close-support duties.

The Casablanca class was typical, with fifty (CVE-55 to CVE-104) delivered by
the Kaiser ship yards from July 1943 to July 1944. Carrying a composite squadron (VC) of
28 aircraft, the little carriers had a top speed of 18-19 knots, a flight deck only 477
feet long and were armed with a single 5-inch gun, eight 40mm and 12 20mm anti-aircraft
guns.

Grumman's TBF Avenger and F4F-4 Wildcat were to equip the escort carriers, as their
flight decks were considered marginal for the heavier F6F Hellcat. But increased demands
on Grumman for the Hellcat and newer designs led to an agreement with auto maker General
Motors to take over production of the Avenger and Wildcat.

The PK Planes

Long experienced in the mass production of automobiles, General Motors expected to
assist the aircraft industry's war effort primarily by building sub-assemblies and
components. However, in mid-1942, its Eastern Aircraft Division plants in Trenton, N.J.
was assigned to build Avengers under the new designation TBM-1, while the Linden, N.J.
site was to built the F4F-4 Wildcat, with the designation FM-1.

The FM-1 was identical to the Grumman F4F-4, except for mounting four instead of six
0.50 caliber machine guns. This return to the original F4F-3's armament allowed more
ammunition to be carried for each gun, a point favored my many Navy pilots.

To ease the change over to building entire aircraft, Grumman delivered a number of
complete TBFs and F4Fs as sub-assemblies, plus a few special "PK" aircraft,
assembled with Parker-Kalon (PK) screws in place of rivets. These PK aircraft could be
taken apart and studied in detail by the Eastern workers, and by September 1942 the first
FM-1 had been assembled using Grumman-built parts. By early 1943, Eastern was building
FM-1s and TBM-1s on its own.

Enter the Wilder Wildcat

In 1940, Grumman had built a version of the Wildcat for France, powered by the Wright
R-1820, a 9-cylinder single-row radial, which was lighter in weight than the P&W
14-cylinder, double-row R-1830. These and other Wright-powered versions were delivered to
the British after the fall of France, but in June 1942, after the criticism of the F4F-4's
performance at Midway, and to improve operations from the smaller escort carrier, Grumman
built two XF4F-8 prototypes powered by a 1,350 horsepower Wright R-1820-56. Weighing 530
pounds less than the F4F-4 and with a rate of climb almost 1,000 feet per minute faster,
these came to be called "Wilder Wildcats."

With Wildcat production transferred to General Motors, the XF4F-8 became the prototype
for the Eastern FM-2 "Wilder Wildcat." The FM-2 replaced the FM-1 on the
assembly lines at the Linden, N.J. plant, the first being delivered to the U.S. Navy in
September 1943.

During 1944, the FM-2 replaced earlier Wildcats aboard the escort carriers, but it was
not until U.S. forces returned to the Philippines in October of that year, that the
"Wilder Wildcats" saw combat in large numbers.

The Return to the Philippines

When American forces began landing on Saipan on June 15, 1944, Admiral Soemu Toyoda,
commander-in-chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet, ordered Operation A-GO to begin.
Four days later, the First Mobile Fleet, consisting of the surviving Japanese carriers,
commanded by Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa, attacked U.S. carrier groups in the Battle of the
Philippine Sea, also called the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot" by U.S. airmen.
Ozawa's aircraft were decimated, and his force lost most of its offensive power.

However, Toyoda still had a strong force of battleships, heavy cruisers and large
destroyers, which could destroy the expected American invasion fleet, if only the U.S.
carriers could be distracted long enough.

As U.S. troops began landing on Leyte and other islands in the Philippines, Ozawa's
carriers were offered as bait, to draw the American carriers northward, away from the
invasion beaches. The Japanese surface forces were spotted and attacked by U.S. submarines
and aircraft, but one force led by Adm. Takeo Kurita managed to pass through the San
Bernadino Straits in the early morning of Oct. 25, while the U.S. fleet carriers were
taking the bait of Ozawa's carriers.

The Ordeal of Taffy Three

The only carriers in the Leyte Gulf area were Adm. Thomas Kinkaid's eighteen escort
carriers, organized into three groups called Taffy 1, 2 and 3. Rear-Adm. Clifton Sprague's
Taffy 3 consisted of the St. Lo, White Plains, Kalinin Bay, Kitkun
Bay, Gambier Bay and flagship Fanshaw Bay. Taffy 3 was the northernmost of the
groups, with the mission of antisubmarine patrol off the coast of Samar Island. At about
0645, both radar and lookouts on the Fanshaw Bay reported ships to the north.
Ensign Hans Jensen, pilot of an Avenger on patrol radioed this startling message:

"Enemy surface force of 4 battleships, 7 cruisers and 11 destroyers sighted twenty
knots to the northwest." When asked to confirm to confirm his identification of these
ships, Jensen replied, "Identification of enemy force confirmed. Ships have pagoda
masts." Sprague realized that his forces were all that stood between the enemy ships
and the invasion beach, and they were not armed to attack battleships.

But as Kurita opened fire on the six little carriers and their six destroyer escorts,
he made the mistake of assuming he was attacking large, fast fleet carriers, capable of 30
knots or more and armed with 80 planes each. Thus, he approached with care, never
realizing how slow and vulnerable were the ships of Taffy 3.

Kurita's delay in pressing his attack on the carriers of Taffy 3 and a brief rain
squall gave the TBM Avengers a chance to rearm with aerial torpedoes after dropping their
depth charges on the enemy ships. While the Avengers attacked with the only really lethal
weapon against the heavy ships, the Wildcats continued to attack with guns and rockets,
often making "dry runs" even after all their ammunition was gone.

The FM-2 vs. the Zero

On board the Gambier Bay, Ensign Joe McGraw of Composite Squadron 10 (VC-10)
raced for his FM-2 Wildcat as the battleships Yamato, Nagato, Kongo
and Haruna and heavy cruisers Kumano, Suzuya, Chikuma, Tone,
Haguro and Chokai opened fire with 8-inch to 18-inch guns. His story is
excerpted from Barret Tillman's Wildcat Aces of World War 2, which is reviewed
later in this issue:

"I got off as the last fighter, I think, as I had to dodge a big hole on the
forward port corner of the deck just as Capt. Viewig was throwing the ship into a
turn."

Armed with small bombs, 0.50 caliber machine guns and 5-inch rockets, the Wildcats and
Avengers attacked the Japanese ships, many FM-2 pilots making strafing runs on the bridges
of the battleships. Planes from Taffy 1 and 2 plus those from land bases joined the
attack, the carriers of Taffy 1 and 2 landing and rearming the planes as quickly as
possible. On McGraw's third launch, his flight was vectored to attack a number of Val dive
bombers and Zero fighters. He describes his FM-2's combat with a well-flown A6M5 Zero:

"The leader of the Zeros was good and he hit our division leader in the engine,
putting him in the water (he was later picked up). As I had pulled up so hard and steep, I
lost my wingman, but avoided the Zeros as they dove by." McGraw described how he got
in position to shot down the Zero leader's wingman, and described what happened next:

"That either surprised or made the Zero lead really mad, because he did the
tightest turn I've ever seen to try to get on me. Bit I also pulled up into a tight
climbing left turn into him, and he missed his shot behind me. The FM-2's tight turn must
have surprised him because I got around quickly on him into a head-on, and put a fast
burst into his engine. That really made him mad, because he quickly pulled into me in what
I thought was an attempt to ram. I had also pulled up hard to avoid him; it was a close
thing."

McGraw last saw the Zero smoking heavily and diving for the clouds. He continued:

"I had the feeling he was an old hand and had expected the old Wildcats to be easy
prey, so he was surprised and let his temper get the better of him  he probably
didn't know about the much-improved FM-2 version. I don't know what happened to him, but
with his engine shot up I don't suppose he made it back to base." By dark, McGraw had
flown 11 hours in three missions and had to land aboard Manila Bay, his own ship, Gambier
Bay, having been sunk by gun fire.

This battle also saw the first organized use of suicide planes, or kamikaze, by
the Japanese, with several striking the little escort carriers. The CVEs proved much
tougher than anyone had imagined, only the St. Lo being sunk when the kamikaze
went through her flight deck and detonated the bombs and torpedoes in her hanger.

Kurita Retires

Shortly after noon, Kurita signaled his ships to retire, having lost three heavy
cruisers and had several ships badly damaged. American losses were two escort carriers,
two destroyers and a destroyer escort, with 1,130 killed or missing and 913 wounded.
Japanese casualties are not known.

The Battle off Samar, as the contest came to be known, was probably the most unlikely
victory of World War Two. That Kurita's powerful, well armed and armored ships could be
routed by a bunch of "tin can" escort carriers with only TBM Avengers and FM-2
Wildcats for weapons, speaks volumes of the bravery and skill of all the crews and
aircrews of Taffy 1, 2 and 3.

A New Role

As U.S. Marines discovered early in the Pacific "island hopping" campaign to
capture bases from which to attack the Japanese homeland, naval gunfire support of the
landings was essential. To be effective, the gunfire had to be observed and corrected
 a role historically performed by floatplanes catapulted from battleships and heavy
cruisers. In early Pacific battles, these observation planes were often damaged before
they could be launched, and their supplies of highly flammable aviation fuel were a
serious fire hazard. In late 1944, specially trained pilots flying FM-2s began to perform
this mission.

Two observation composite squadrons, VOC-1 and VOC-2, spotted and adjusted naval
gunfire in support of the landings in the Philippines, on Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The sight
of navy fighter pilots learning to adjust artillery fire at Fort Sill, Okla. may have
caused some head scratching at the U.S. Army's Artillery School, but these Wildcat pilots
soon put their training to good use.

Flying from escort carriers, the FM-2s of VOC-1 and 2 observed and adjusted naval and
Marine gunfire both day and night, often carrying two underwing drop tanks, to extend
their flying time. On one mission, a VOC-2 pilot, Lt. Spindler, provided some unusual
support for a group of American soldiers struggling to haul heavy ammunition boxes, when
he spotted a Japanese horse abandoned nearby, and herded it with his Wildcat. When last
seen by Spindler, the GIs were loading their cargo onto the horse and waving thanks.

With their four 0.50 caliber machine guns, the FM-2s could defend themselves in the
hostile skies over the invasion beaches. The pilots of VOC-1 were credited with 20 enemy
aircraft downed, while VOC-2 Wildcats scored five kills at Okinawa, and their rugged FM-2s
logged over 25,000 hours of combat flying by the end of the war.

The CAF's FM-2 based in California, proudly wears the markings of a VOC-1 Wildcat
flying from the decks of the USS Wake Island and USS Marcus Island in 1945.

The Final Score

Eastern's "Wilder Wildcat", racked up a total of 432 enemy aircraft shot down
by V-J day. The top scoring FM-2 unit was VC-27, with 61.5 kills by its Wildcat pilots
flying from the deck of the USS Savo Island, including nine kills credited to Lt.
R. E. Elliott, the leading FM-2 ace.

From Grumman's first fixed-wing F4F-3 to Eastern's final version, the FM-2, few
American fighters can match the Wildcat's combat service record from the darkest days of
Pearl Harbor to the deadly skies and waters around Okinawa and Japan itself.

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